Operation Red Meat And The Gutting Of The Beeb
Just as the scandal-wracked government in Australia has punitively frozen ABC funding for years (while denying with a smirk that any cuts have been made), Boris Johnson's ultracons in the UK will now freeze BBC funding for the next 2 years, then go further and abolish the licence fee which funds the broadcaster, and use the introduction of a new funding model as a threat to hold over the organisation. Part-privatisation and subscription models are on the table. This comes after a decade of cuts (a drop of around 30%, inflation adjusted) and calculating conservative political attacks. It's a major step forward in the right-wing project to undermine trusted sources of information and public services. The latest cuts are part of "Operation Red Meat" (no, really), Boris Johnson's plan to save his skin by appealing to "populist" MPs and voters. After repeatedly breaking his own Covid rules, the British PM is under intense pressure, including from within the c...